Friday, July 9, 2010

Lebron!!!

Why the title? I didn't wanna' be the only guy on the entire internet NOT to have mentioned Lebron (and yeah, I WAS at home watching him instead of heading out to the courts).

The match between Lakeside and Westside was big, not quite Lebron big, but it will go a long way towards deciding who will win citywides. Westside took a huge step towards Dallas by winning 3-2. Any Pio Davila doubters should finally be silenced as he absolutely trounced Quack Bui 6-2, 6-0. Lakeside was without Glenn Wright and Tommy Connell, which probably made the difference. Peter Hansen and Milos Dimitrijevic pulled out a third set breaker to give the Black Sheep the edge. With Houston getting a wild card, one loss is far from fatal for Lakeside. Two losses MIGHT even be able to get a team to Dallas if everything breaks right.

A good night for the Hurricanes as they pulled out two 3-2 wins in the 4.5 playoffs. The Hurricanes II - Deucebags match came down to the end. David Guy was the top singles guy on the first team I ever played on, way back in 1997. Thirteen years later, he's still playing the same level of tennis, and still grinding out clutch wins. You look at his results every year and you see losses in HTA matches to people like Chris Sandblom, David Romero, Alex Ellingsen et al. and wonder why he ends up playing singles at Sectionals...and winning. He did it again last night, pulling out a three setter against Hung Nguyen of the Deucebags to give the 'Canes a 3-2 win.

The topic du jour, as usual, seemed to be Alain Tran's lineup, as he and Trey Dugas were on the sidelines. I have never talked to Alain about it, but I just think he has a different philosophy from everyone else. I think he has confidence in all of the players on his team and feels they can all win and all deserve a chance to play. It's not like back in little league, where you were required to throw the fat kid with the coke bottle glasses out in right field for two innings a game. Alain truly believes his guys should be out there. Khang Quach and Bobby Trinh rewarded Tran's confidence by beating Chec/Hunckler.

The story for Freeman's teams were the 4.0 bumpups. Many of my old teammates acquitted themselves well last night. Tam "Pippen" Phan and Aaron Greene won at line 1 for the Hurricanes II. The Hurricanes III got all of their wins from Freeman 4.0 alums in their 3-2 win over Westheimer Indoors. Sarosh Ahmed continued his streak at #1 singles, Chambert/Grego (SAP 4.0 alum) took out Day and Marco in straight sets and Foster/Morris won at line 3.

One would have to say that the odds are now in favor of one of Freeman's teams advancing to Sectionals. Thankfully, the two teams are not playing each other at the end of the playoffs...both teams will have incentive when they play each other.

Nothing too exciting happened in the 4.0 ranks. There was a minor upset in 4.0 as the Nights took out the first place Acers 3-2, taking all three third set breakers. Prahlad Enuganti pulled out a clutch three setter against Dan Le to give the Nights the edge. The Acers were missing top doubles player Don Obenrader.

Chancellor's won fairly easily over the first place CR Comets. On paper I suppose this was an upset. Cuong Truong won the big battle at number one singles against Mal Patil in a battle of unbeatens after dropping the first set 6-1. Danh Mai again was solid in singles for the Ace Kings. (Big Slicks?)

The 4.0 Hurricanes romped past Westside Phoenix 5-0, as expected. I don't see a roadblock for that team in their flight.

111 comments:

  1. All the 4.0 guys winning means one thing. This 4.5 league is the weakest ever. Will Januzzi be a good 4.0 next year or an average one?

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  2. He would be excellent... at bitching.

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  3. i don't think there were any doubters about davila, after beat hunckler pretty bad. with him beating bui like he did, he is definitely not in the right level and mostlikely dq'd.

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  4. Thanks for the support Greg. Like all captains I do try and create the best lineup and put the team in position to win. I'll go to battle with each and everyone one of my players, as I expect them to have my back as well. Losing all three matches in the third set tiebreak is uncontrollable, but that's tennis. The playoffs will be interesting this year, and we'll see who the cream will be. Good luck to everyone!

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  5. All of yesterday's matches were decided 3-2 with many of them in 3 set tie breaks. Great start to the playoffs with a lot more excitement to come. This is where captains will earn their stripes by how they put their line ups together to get the most advantageous outcome.

    But in the end, it will be decided on the court.

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  6. Lakeside was a match point away from winning last night, the matches were very tight, the doubles that is.

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  7. that's the beauty and excitement of summer league matches and that's why we are all playing. good luck to all in the rest of the playoffs and keep it fun!

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  8. acers had a match point too. deucebags and titans might have also.

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  9. Had to research Pio Davila's pedigree since he appeared pretty much out of nowhere. Seems he played for U of South Carolina Upstate from the Atlantic Sun Conference (a minor Div 1 conference with no football program) back in the mid-90s. Looks like he was pretty successful then. Always interesting to find a team's ringer's background. Obviously, he's a stud player to beat Quack Bui 2 and 0.

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  10. SC Upstate was not D1 back in the 90's, however.

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  11. http://grfx.cstv.com/photos/schools/ucscu/sports/m-tennis/auto_pdf/08tennisguide22-31.pdf

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  12. USTA rule number one:

    1. A player with a valid NTRP Computer (C) rating, or Benchmark (B) rating, or granted
    Automatic Appeal rating of a Computer (C) rating is not subject to a NTRP grievance.
    Any other player is subject to a NTRP grievance.

    I personally feel that a player who lies on his self-rate form (I'm not saying Davila did this. He only played HTA stuff last year and I don't even know if you have to fill out a self-rate form for HTA leagues. Can someone help me out here?) should be able to be DQ'd even if it is discovered in the next year after he has secured his precious "C" rating.

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  13. That's why Houston should be more diligent in DQ'ing people like Locke. You let it go one year b/c they are on a bad team. Then Boom! They're the best player on the best team the next year.

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  14. That's true...although there's little doubt that the computer will be bumping Lock up at the end of the year regardless, based on his results.

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  15. looking from the ntrp guideline link:
    http://dps.usta.com/usta_master/sitecore_usta/USTA/Document%20Assets/2008/02/14/doc_13_7372.pdf

    -femi should be rated at least a 5.5
    -davila should be rated at least a 5.0
    -bharath should be rated at least a 5.0

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  16. Maybe none of the captains are protesting Locke because they feel capable of getting him on their team next year. Move over Lebron - It's the Locke sweepstakes!

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  17. okay einstein. tell us why bharath should be rated at least a 5.0 according to that chart?

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  18. will then real Ed, Edwin, John, Johnny, Eduardo Hess stand up, please!!!

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  19. a little bird told me that he played ITF for india

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  20. No one is getting D'Q'ed. Let's move on.

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  21. can your little bird copy,paste, and post.

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  22. reality is there are 6 solid #1 guys in City this year. Hess, Borkop, Davila, McCool, Sarosh, Ford. No ringers, just solid upper 4.5 guys. Now adding Femi, thats sick. Leave it to Benzon/Freeman to make a mockery of 4.5 league with a Wanja like move.

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  23. Why all the talk about the NOHO team? Do they play on Thursday nights? Do they effect the outcome of the Thursday league?

    Things would have been very interesting if the NOHO guys played on Thursday night. I'm happy Houston will have 3 representatives at Sectionals this year in 4.5.

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  24. I'm almost positive that the thursday winner could give noho a run for there money.I think Westside could give noho a good match.

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  25. Same thing happened with Broach. I think he was on Jedi Knights first year in the legaue. No one said anything and Boom he's playing for Red. I agree with HTown. There should be no statute of limitation for lying on the self rate even after a C rating is obtained. Locked should still be DQable next year if he should somehow get a 4.5 C rating. Same for Femi, who, BTW is BETTER than Wanja IMO.

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  26. You're on Crack. NoHo will win Sectionals and has Houston's best chance yet to win Nats. This all assumes their cheaters (errrr I mean ringers) aren't DQed first.

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  27. assuming their ringers weren't in the lineup could noho still beat the houston thursday team. Seems to me they are still very deep even without their so called "ringers".

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  28. Does non grievable mean the computer can't bump them in mid round robin. Let's see who else Davila beats.

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  29. Often times, Indian names are different in India than they are in the States. First names many times become Last names and/or last names may be abbreviated in the U.S. while more lengthy overseas. My guess is the key to unlocking Mr Gururaj's tennis history is unlocking what his name was while he was playing tennis in India, do I hear a vote for Raj Bharath!!

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  30. New 4.5 Rankings

    1.Westside Black Sheep
    2.Hurricanes 3
    3.Lakeside
    4.Hurricanes 2
    5.Westheimer Indoors
    6.Deucebags

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  31. For all there trash talk Lakeside is nothing without Connell.

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  32. Assuming in 4.0 that the Hurricanes get one of the slots to Sectionals, which other team has the best chance at the 2nd slot?

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  33. Lakeside 4.0 will get the other slot. They may even be better than Hurricanes.

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  34. Anyone have any rankings for 4.0 teams?

    Where has the numbers guy been?

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  35. Hurricanes II & III play each other in the next round, any predictions and how will Freeman do the line ups?

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  36. Freeman will be excluded from making the line ups for either of the Hurricane teams. He just doesn't know it yet.

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  37. No Connell and No Wright hurt Lakeside last night.

    I'm not sold on Black Sheep being the top team in houston yet.

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  38. We should create a poll to determine the lineups of the two Hurricane teams.

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  39. now that everyone know's the caliber of davila, they will have to try to win 3 of the other 4 lines. don't waste your time putting your best player against him. thrilla in davila

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  40. Nobody knows how good Davila really is yet. I've seen him play and was not all that impressed. Lakeside stacked the singles. If he played Hess we'd have an idea of his level but I think Hess beats him. I'd like Hunkler's or Quack's honest opinions about how good Davilla is.

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  41. Lakeside may still win the City, Hess would have won at line 1 what were they thinking?

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  42. he's a classic pusher. any serve and volley attacker or aggresive player would take Davila. Quack is strong but possesses none of the skills mentioned above

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  43. Why didnt Zachary and Hess play singles? Makes no sense!!!

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  44. Connell would beat Davilla as well.

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  45. "Why didnt Zachary play singles" Please, I would hope Lakeside CC has a defribrillator handy if that were the case

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  46. Why didnt Zachary play singles? Please!!!

    I would hope Lakeside CC has a defibrillator handy for that one.

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  47. Quack had pretty much destroyed everyone he'd played this year, including Ryan Cooper who proved to be one of the top players in the league. Why would you take Zachary out of doubles and replace Bui?????

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  48. I would like to see you play him! Lets put some money on it!

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  49. No takers I guess? Not the first time you pussies were afraid to man up!

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  50. how can you play itf for india? moron

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  51. 3:43 - who are you ranting about, Davila Quack, Cooper,or Zachary?

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  52. Sounds like 4.5 to meJuly 9, 2010 at 4:21 PM

    Published on: 5/30/2008 Last Visited: 5/30/2008
    Femi Thomas - Tennis Professional

    Femi joined our staff in July of 2004. Former Assistant Professional at Piney Point Racquet Club. Has worked with other clubs and USTA Programs over the last 3 years. PTR Certification. Femi was one of the top ranked juniors in his age group in Nigeria , representing his country in the US Jr. Open and Junior Davis Cup Competition. Femi competed in professional satellites & professional futures tournaments.

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  53. I guess eveyone's wondering, "how good is Pio"? First of all, my goal this year is to be undefeated but I ran into a player that I can truthfully say I will never beat. Sure the score was lopsided, 6-2, 6-0, but I threw the book for at him for almost 2 hours. This match could have lasted 3 hours or more, if I played my game but the results will still be the same. I was not injured or had a bad day. He's just a far level above me. As for as who's the best singles player in 4.5 league; his record speaks for itself.

    thequackster

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  54. You can write anything in your bio! Just because you are a liar, doesn't make you a 5.5! Some of these people think they are good and it cracks me up!

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  55. Didn't we have this same discussion about David Bvunzawabaya last year. He was suppose to be an ex-Davis cup player, then got his ass whupped at Sectionals - twice.

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  56. http://www.itftennis.com/mens/tournaments/tournamentresults.asp?event=1100013419&tournament=1100002431

    Mr Bharath, 30 yrs old and a futures tourney on his resume.

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  57. talking about femi

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  58. Ok, If you get raped in the first round of quallies in a future in India, then you suck! That was the worst proof EVER!!!!!!!!

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  59. Anonymous said...

    Someone tell me how Freeman got Sebastien Chambert's rating to go down from 5.0 in Summer 2008 to 4.5 in Fall 2008 to 4.0 in 2009?!?!?!?!


    Freeman sleeps with the devil that controls the rating system duh!!

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  60. Hunckler here:

    I agree with Quack: Davila is tough. He is very smoothe on the court, and manages to be in position for every shot you hit with little to no visible effort to get there. Regardless of my lack of play over the past 2 years, I'm not sure I could beat him on my best day, but would not turn down a rematch.

    A tough serve and volleyer or a really aggressive baseliner would be the best bet for a "W" against Davila, but I don't foresee an easy win against him.

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  61. if you played ITF, win or lose, then he you should be dq'd.
    - i remember the blog giving letan, from copperfield, a hard time for a player he had on his roster. he did the right thing and took him off. how ironic would it be if copperfield uses this info about bharath and get him dq'd. would copperfield be able to compete in city playoffs?

    ***IMO, bharath is an illegal 4.5 player and copperfield got cheated out of the playoffs

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  62. Some of you guys are rough and I am a asshole when it comes to rules, but any of us could play an ITF Event in the qualies and get our ass handed to us. Now if he was winning matches consistently in the qualies big difference.

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  63. ARH Suprised by your post for a "rules follower". Rules are if you played satellites or futures, you're a 6.0 - minimum- no questions asked. Doesn't ask what your record is/was. Sounds like there are at least 3 DQs outstanding out there. Locke Bharath Thomas

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  64. Thomas never played according to the ITF database, just his resume! ROTFLMFAO!!!!

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  65. An ITF event is not the same as a satellite or a future.

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  66. Are you retarded? All Futures and Challengers and Atp events are Itf events. The Itf is the governing body of the men's women's and junior world tour.

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  67. Furthermore "Satelite" tournaments have not been existence since the 90's

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  68. the 4.5 league is plague with div1, itf, satellite, and davis cup players. which is worst:

    1) ahmed- playing 3.5 coke open
    2) davila- playing 4.0 league last year
    3) lock- playing 4.5 league
    4) femi- playing 4.5 league
    5) bharath-playing 4.5 league

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  69. Didn't Foad play some futures events, how come he is not dqd?

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  70. I think AR Hacker is correct. If you play in qualifying of a an itf event and lose it doesn't dq you out of anything. Although, if your winning rounds you are out of level. AR knows his rules.

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  71. you can't sugar coat the rules. copperfield should protest bharath before the playoffs are over. they deserved the other playoff spot

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  72. Protest denied. So I guess you can sugar coat the rules. You have to show wins in itf event. Anyone can get into qualifying tournament.

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  73. New_AR_Hacker said...
    Houston, Austin, and San Antonio got the WC so Dallas got shafted like the LA Clippers in the NBA Lottery.

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  74. Who's the idiot trying to get Copperfield in the playoff? Once the playoff starts teams don't get inserted, no matter who gets defaulted.

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  75. Willy Santiago Lock is 100% protestable. Div 1 School (Northwestern). No questions asked - DQ - should be a 5.5 player. It's pathetic that he would sign up for 4.5

    http://nusports.cstv.com/sports/m-tennis/mtt/lock_willy00.html

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  76. Must not be, DUDE, he's still not been DQed. It's a no-brainer. Houston is a pathetic league for letting liars and cheaters to play 2 levels below.

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  77. Season is over Einstein. His team a non-factor.

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  78. Oak Creek- Branch will be the stongest it's ever been. With the additions of Underwood,Kelly,Ledezma,Viktorkin they have added even more depth than they've had in the past. This year will be Oak Creeks best chance to advance to Nationals.

    5 min - Mar 26, 2009 - Uploaded by marshallisboss
    BRANDON UNDERWOOD, playing some tennis.
    www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Z1udea41YQ - more videos

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  79. AR HACKER. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE TANK JOB YOUR OLD TEAM MATED MIKE KELLY DID TO GET DOWN TO 4.5?

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  80. LOL. I actually wasted a couple of minutes of my life watching that video. Let's see Underwood has played division II tennis and has a good league record, just like a bunch of other above average 4.5s. Wake me up when he does something at Sectionals.

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  81. no comment on Kelly, but not overly surprising, shocked Torres has not tried to get him down to SA yet for his team.

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  82. Dallas seems to be way under rated. Judging from their roster additions and bumped downs they easily could be the favorites.

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  83. there are two guys that would give davila a hard time, but they are open/5.0 players.

    - big server, excellent serve and volley= omon
    - big server, aggressive baseliner= hasker

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  84. #3 Doubles Woodlands - Pinto/Mitchell is the winner. Gregory R. Dwyer
    Danny Vu
    Completed Vs. Rick L. Malone
    Werner A. Johnson 6-2
    6-1
    Another good tank job by Gregory Dwyer and Danny Vu. working your way back to 4.0s good job. Freeman two new players for you.

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  85. Borkop might give Davila problems. He has a big serve and good volleys with great movement.

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  86. Sarosh might give Davila problems too, by hooking him.

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  87. Branch will not even make it to sectional, royal oaks will upset them.

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  88. It's nice to dream...

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  89. Wow I see 11:14 Anon was on the sauce late last night. As much as I want my club to make it again, there is no way anyone will be beating Branch this season in Dallas, unless Branch pulls a Torres and defaults 3 lines.

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  90. if you feel lucky about your top singles player, then put him in line #1 against davila.

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  91. Let Ward play Davila, he is a serve and volley guy. He can't win doubles, might as well put him in singles.

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  92. I will bet on Borkop beating Davila

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  93. I would like to see that matchup too.

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  94. Titans beat Canes II. Ford beat McCool 4 and 4.

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  95. anyone know the results for blacksheep vs canesIII?

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  96. I don't think that match has been played and they are trying to make it up some time this week. Maybe someone on either team can give an update since both of these teams are still undefeated.

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  97. What do you see would be a good lineup for Hurricanes 2 vs. Hurricanes 3 ?

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  98. Make up match between Blacksheep and Hurricanes is set for tomorrow night.

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  99. Where is the match? It would be fun to see if Davila is matched up with Ahmed. My pick is Davila 6-4, 6-3. The key is if the Hurricanes can get a split in singles. If not, then they will lose.

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  100. - canesII vs canesIII
    canesII win 3-2. they win both singles line and one dubs

    - canesIII vs bs
    bs wins 3-2. they win both singles and one dubs. davila will destroy whoever he is playing. fonseca and alzate can win the other singles

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  101. ahmed vs davila, davila wins 6-4, 6-3? are you kidding? no one in singles has gotten more then 3 games in a set from davila. davila is in a different class of all the 4.5 singles, and it seems like no one is really respecting his game. ahmed is a good player, so no disrespect, but i pick davila 6-2, 6-2

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  102. Well then maybe Freeman will be smart enough to throw a scrub out there at line 1 singles and stack his lineup.

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  103. Isn't Ahmed the scrub Freeman's going to throw out there?

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  104. I love how a guy that played low level D2 tennis 15 years ago has been elevated to the status of a current tour player. Davila is good but would have trouble with Hess and Borkop and would get destroyed by Gururaj. Calm down and let the "ringers" beat up on each other.

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  105. Davila has gone from under-rated to over-rated in the span of a week somehow. He's a dinker like Puma and Pastrana. Once they play the big boys, they get an L.

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  106. Please be on the look out for some players for Torres for next year. He will be coming to Sectionals this year with a LUCKY skeleton crew. He loses players every year because he cheats so bad. He has all but run himself out of San Antonio. The city can't stand him. Benzon does the same stuff and you guys let him get away with it. Every year you guys basically play for a wild card because he owns all of you with his antics. DO SOMETHING.

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  107. Does Paul Wittorf play in your league? He says he's undefeated ...

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  108. According to TennisLink (national.usta.com), nobody named "Paul Wittorf" plays in sanction USTA leagues anywhere.

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